Originally posted Sat, 2009-07-04 01:13
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NSBNEWS.net photo by Sera Frederick (far left); Volusia Branch Jail booking mug (near left). George Fred Heise, 77, of New Smyrna Beach, poses for the camera during the Kiwanis Club's fundraiser "Strike it Rich" earlier this year. Heise, a member of Kiwanis and former commissioner and chairman of the New Smyrna Beach Utilities Commission in the early 1990s, was charged in early July with prowling/loitering and resisting arrest without violence, accused of peeping at a neighbor while hiding in her bushes.
NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- George Fred Heise has spent his adult life in charitable works and community service, including the chairmanship of the New Smyrna Beach Utilities Commission, and in recent years, helping to raise money for charitable causes with the Kiwannis Club of Southeast Volusia. So his arrest Wednesday night on charges of peeping into a neighbor's home from behind her bushes comes as a shocker, even to Heise, who said that was not his intention.
"I don't know. I can't tell you why. I don't know why," Heise said of his reason for being in the bushes in the first place, leading to his 10:04 p.m. arrest next door to his residence on Cunningham Drive.
Heise was charged with loitering prowling and resisting arrest without violence, both misdemeanors, punishable by up to 364 days in jail, if convicted. Heise is presumed innocent.
In an interview Friday with NSBNEWS.net, Heise said he was walking his dog when he saw the fish jumping in the stream that runs behind his neighborhood and after bringing his dog back home, decided to go out again. He said stopped and stood behind bushes and a palm tree after he saw "a form moving around," inside the back porch adding, "I don't know why I stood there more than a minute, frankly."
Heise said he then heard a commotion and was blinded by a flashlight, which scared him into running. He said he didn't know at first it was the police, saying he was startled and is hard of hearing. Heise was briefly chased by police who arrived as the woman in the back enclosed porch remained on the 9-1-1 call with police dispatch, telling the operator he was hiding in the bushes staring at her while she was on the call, according to the police report.
The alleged victim, a 48-year-old Edgewater woman staying as a guest of the homeowners who are seasonal residents from Massachusetts, told police she was in the enclosed back porch, dressed in a nightgown as she was getting ready to go to bed when she saw Heise in the bushes, telling police she didn't know Heise personally, but that he had previously come to the residence after she was dressed for bed, and said that he needed to talk to her about the neighborhood watch.
She said she told Heise that she wasn't dressed properly and he couldn't come in, nor could she speak with him at that time. NSBNEWS.net is withholding the victim's name because of the nature of the alleged crime.
In a written statement to police, the woman wrote in part: I could see his head behind the bush -- the person was not just passing by."
The police report states officers shouted at Heise to stop with the k-9 officer first yelling, "Police canine, come out now or I am going to release my dog and you will get bit."
Police said Heise instead ran and the police dog, a German shepherd, knocked him down, biting him in the rear end and then in his arm after he refused to allow an officer to handcuff him. Heise was brought back to the police station holding cell -- with his Rolex watch valued at $5,000 put aside for safe keeping -- before a transport to Bert Fish Medical Center.
He was treated for the bites and given a tetanus shot. Heise was then transported to the Volusia County Branch Jail and booked before he was released on $1,000 bail.
Heise said he began talking to police about the situation until he was read his rights and got scared, saying he wanted to speak to a lawyer. Statements made to police in the report were redacted, per state statute, in a copy released to NSBNEWS.net.
Herman Mitchell, president of Kiwanis said Heise called him Friday after speaking with NSBNEWs.net.
Mitchell declined comment as did Robert Lott, president of the Southeast Chamber of Commerce. Heise has served in various executive committees with the chamber over the years.